1. Field
This invention relates to shotguns. More particularly, this invention provides a magazine insolator for use with shotguns of the type having tubular magazines and a pump action.
2. State of the Art
Shotguns of the type having tubular magazines and a pump action which includes sliding linkage are well known. The pump action of such shotguns is operable from a battery position through an eject position to eject a cartridge from the firing chamber and through a loading sequence in which cartridges are released from the mouth of the tubular magazine sequentially one by one and positioned for ramming into the firing chamber. The action is then positioned back to the battery position through which the cartridges are rammed into the firing chamber. Shotguns of this type come in various gauges (bore) and may be of the type in which cartridges are ejected outwardly or away from the side of the receiver or of the type in which cartridges are ejected downwardly from the receiver.
In operation, the user may find it desirable to load the tubular magazine with a plurality of cartridges and to thereafter fire several cartridges in sequence by operating the pump action after each firing. In some cases, the user may find it desirable to load into the firing chamber a cartridge of a type different from those preloaded into the magazine. Such operation may be found desirable in the field (hunting) to permit selection of the type of shot appropriate for the specific game present at a given moment. In such instances, as in other sporting environments such as trap shooting where the user desires to individually load cartridges into the firing chamber, the carrier mechanism inevitably associated with tubular magazines generally interfers with manual loading.
In such circumstances, the user may sometimes position the pump action precisely to eject a spent cartridge without causing a new cartridge to be released from the magazine. This mode of pump operation is impossible for many shotguns, and at best is difficult and/or awkward. Alternatively, the user may repeatedly operate the pump action to load cartridges from the magazine into the firing chamber and thereafter eject unfired cartridges until the magazine and the firing chamber are empty of the preloaded cartridges. Thereupon, the user may load the desired cartridge into the magazine or directly into the firing chamber. This procedure is time consuming and often dangerous. There is a need for a simple means to permit loading of a single cartridge directly into the firing chamber of a pump action shotgun without interference from the cartridges stored in the magazine or the carrier mechanism of the gun.